Archive for December 7th, 2008

I had a great time making soft pretzels with my son. I made a recipe from Helen Witty’s book, The Good Stuff. Next I want to try the recipe for hard pretzels from that book. And I want to try making cheese crackers, my son’s absolute favorite. Giving him homemade would make me feel marginally less guilty.

I have had my eye on a vegan spinach quiche at 101 Cookbooks for a while now. Heidi reported that it took her 3 hours to make. A bit discouraging. I took a few shortcuts and cut it down to 1 hour prep time, 1 hour bake time.

I sauteed 1 cup of onion and 4 cloves of garlic, minced, in olive oil until translucent, and then dumped in 1 1/2 pounds of frozen spinach.

While that was cooking, covered, I made the crust. I pulsed 1/2 cup of oatmeal with 1 cup of whole wheat flour in a food processor, and then pulsed in 1/3 cup each of olive oil and water until the mixture started to clump. I pressed the crust mixture out into a 12″ round on a square of non-stick heavy duty foil. I put the dough circle (still on the foil) on a baking sheet.

I mashed up the spinach and seasoned it. I then pureed it with 1 package of extra-firm tofu in the food processor. This made plenty of filling, which I poured into the center of my crust. Then I lifted up the foil all around the filling to create edges for the tart. I flipped some of the crust over the filling to make it more like a galette. Then into the oven to bake.

It was OK. Truthfully, I missed the eggy-ness and cheesiness of real quiche. Also, I really should have added in the mushrooms. But, not bad.